1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet-feed device for using sheet-feed rollers to feed one sheet at a time from a stack of sheets in a hopper.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. HEI-2-132018 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,042 describe a sheet-supply device used in a printer. The sheet-supply device includes a hopper filled with a stack of sheets, a sheet-feed roller, and a slanting surface connected with the hopper. The sheet-feed roller rotates while in abutment with the surface of the uppermost sheet stacked in the hopper, thereby feeding out the sheet in a predetermined direction toward the slanting surface. When the front edge of the fed-out sheet abuts against the slanting surface, the sheet will bend and be separated away from the other sheets in the stack. The sheet is then transported toward a predetermined position out of the hopper, such as towards a printing region.